Rotative wing aircraft



1935- W. v. DA. RUTHERFORD ET AL 1,992,015

ROTATIVE WING AIRCRAFT 'Filed April 25, .1954 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 wMmi Vim-0 Dim RUTHERFORD heir 41: r'y.

F 1935- w. v. DA. RU-THERFORD ET AL 1 RQTATIVE WING AIRCRAFT A Filed April 25, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 my vi 0)? DhRcy FUTHEFFORD the Ir A-kt Patented Feb. 19, 1935' g I UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ROTATIVE WING AIRCRAFT Walton Victor D'Arcy Rutherford, London, England, and Raoul Hainer, Vienna, Austria Application April 25, 1934, Serial No. 722,364

In Great Britain April 25, 1933 6 Claims. (01. 244-19).

The present invention relates to rotative wing the wing unit are pivoted at 2 on their longiaircraft, that is to say aircraft comprising a systudinal axes X, Y to the hub member 3 through tem of supporting surfaces or blades rotative the medium of a torsionally flexible or yieldable about a vertical or approximately vertical axis, member 4 and universal. link 5 as described in 5 whether power driven to provide direct lift, when our. British complete Specification No. 23,645 of 5- the aircraft is usually known as a "helicopter 1933, so that the blades can flap up and down, or freely rotated by passage of the craft through and rotate frictionlessly on their axes X, Y or the air, when the latter is popularly known as a swivel laterally a small amount about the pivot "windmilP plane. For simplicity of language 6 until the end '7 abuts against the bottom 8 0 in the following description the term wing the fork of the link 5. l 10 unit" will be used to indicate such a system of The hub member 3 is rotatably mounted upon rotative supporting surfaces or blades, whether a shaft 9 by ball bearings 10 which shaft is autorotative or power driven. connectedv by .a universal ball joint 11, 12 to a In British Patent No. 385,101 and British patfixed member 13 carried by the body of the mal. ent application No. 8,555/33 means are described chine. The member 12 of the universal ball joint for controlling such craft by mounting the inis provided with an external screw thread 14 dividual blades forming the wing unit so that which is threaded into a corresponding internal they are freely rotatable about their individual thread 15 in the fixed member 13. The blades 1 axes, and, as a whole, as well as during their r'oare provided with radius arms 16 which extend tation, can be given varying angles ,of incidence inwardly beyond the pivot 2. These arms 16 are 20 or setting whereby the lifting action can be connected by universal ball joints 17 to pivots 18 varied as a whole as well as made difierent at projecting from the sides of a member 19 which different points of the circle of revolution. is rotatably mounted upon the fixed member 13 The primary objects of this invention are to by ball bearings 20, the said ball joints 1'7 being -0 improve the control and simplify the construcfree to slide on the said pivots. Inflight the blades tion of such craft. rotate, flapping up and down about the pivot and According to this invention aircraft of the swivelling laterally about the pivot 6, to meet the above kind is provided with means controlled from changing conditions. An upwardly flapping the cockpit for inclining the axis of rotation of movement causes the blades to rotate on their the wing unit in any direction relatively to the longitudinal axes and reduce their inclination 3% body unit, and means, associated with the wing to the air and correspondingly downward flapand body units, for varying the inclination of the ping movement causes the blades to increase their blades differentially according to the inclination inclination. The universally mounted shaft 9 of the W128 unit to the body unit. The blades is either extended downwards to form. the conmay be connected, against centrifugal force, to trol stick or is controlled by any suitable mechan axial rotatable member by means of torsionanism, not shown, from the control stick so that ally flexible; or like frictionless means. The conthe inclination of the blades may be varied difnections of the blades to the axial rotatable memferentially as desired by inclining the axis of the her may be such that the blades can flap up said shaft relative to the fixed member 13. The

and down and also have a limited side moveinclination of the blades may be altered as a 40 ment. Means may also be provided, controlled whole by screwing the member 12 up or down from the cockpit, for moving the wing unit axialwithin the member 13, thereby enabling the maly as a whole relatively to the body unit, thereby chine to be flown as a helicopter or a windmill varying or reversing the inclination of the blades plane at will. Any suitable means may be proas a whole. vided for rotating the member 12 for the above 45 Examples of construction according to the inpurpose. Any suitable means may also be provention will now be described with reference to vided for driving the rotatable member 19 and the accompanying drawings, wherein: the blades l-from the engine.

Figure l is a cross sectional side view of the It will be understood that in an alternative central or hub portion of the structure. 4 construction the hub member 3 and the rotatable 50 Figure 2 is a plan of Figure 1. member 19 may be interchanged, that is, the hub Figure 3 is a plan of a modification. member 3, with its connected blades, may be Figure 4 is a perspective view of the modifirotatably mounted upon the fixed member 13 cation shown in Figure 3. and the member 19 may be rotatably mounted Befelring to Figures 1 and 2, the blades 1 oi upon the control shaft 9 with or without any 66 suitable means for driving one or other of these members.

In the modification shown in Figures 3 and 4 the invention is applied to aircraft of the kind set forth in British patent application No. 8,555 of 1933. The roots of the blades 1 are pivoted by slidable ball joints 21 to the hub member 3 which is rotatably mounted on the shaft 9 connected by a universal ball joint to a fixed member 13 as above described, but the said blades are braced against centrifugal force, so as to permit them to flap and rotate about their longitudinal axes frictionlessly, by flexible triangular bracing 22 connected to the extremities of the rotating member 19 mounted for rotation on the fixed member 13, and to an intermediate point 23 on the blade.

Any suitable known mechanism controlle from the cockpit may be provided for controlling the inclination of the axis of rotation of the rotating blades and thereby controlling the machine in the fore and aft and lateral directions.

It will be appreciated that the invention is applicable to both helicopters and windmill" planes having both flapping and non-flapping blades, and that it may be utilized for converting at will a helicopterinto a windmill plane and vice versa.

It will be understood that a tractor airscrew 24 may be provided on the body for drawing the machine through the air when functioning as a windmill plane. This airscrew may be driven by means of a clutch from an engine driving the wing system or an auxiliary'engine 25 I may be provided for the purpose.

We claim:---

1. In a rotary wing aircraft, in combination, a wing rotatable about its longitudinal axis and about an axis perpendicular to its longitudinal axis, a rotatable head mounted for rocking motion about its axis, a flexible connection between said head and said wing, a second rotatable member adapted to continuously remain in the same plane with respect to the aircraft'and means connecting said wing member with said second rotatable member whereby rocking motion of the head member causes rotation of the wing about its longitudinal axis.

2. In a rotary wing aircraft, in combination, a wing rotatable about its longitudinal axis and an axis perpendicular to its longitudinal axis, a rotatable universally mounted head, a flexible connection between the longitudinal axis of thewing and the head, a second rotatable member adapted to rotate in a single plane and means connecting the wing with saidsecond rotatable member..

3. In a rotary wing aircraft, in combination, a rotatable member, a wing having a laterally extended arm universally mounted on said rotatable member, a head member having a shaft depending therefrom, said shaft extending through the axis of said rotatable member and being universally mountedtherein, whereby said head may be rocked with respect to said rotatable member, and a torsionally flexible member arranged along the longitudinal axis of said wing, having one of its ends secured to said longitudinal axis at a point intermediate its ends and having its other end pivotally connected to said head member.

4. A rotary wing aircraft according to claim 3, in which the shaft of the head member depends into the cockpit of the craft and terminates in a handle whereby said head member can be rocked manually.

5. A rotary wing aircraft according to claim 3, in which stays are provided to take up the centrifugal and lateral forces imposed on said wing I 

